Talent in the Information Space

Finding equilibrium on the institution-individual continuum

Brian Morrissey

Oct 10, 2024 — 7 min read

Advertising Week is mercifully winding down. I struggle to understand its economic utility, other than as yet another networking excuse and maybe a reminder to honor the rich cultural legacy of Mr. Peanut. Industry events need to be fewer and completely rethought. Too many pay-to-play panels, too much insularity from the real forces changing advertising, and far too PR driven with far too little substance. At least in Cannes you’re in the Riviera, not the Garment District.

Couple things to know:

To mark The Rebooting’s fourth anniversary, I’m offering a 20% discount on TRB Pro memberships. You get a year of TRB Pro, with access to all content and invites to member events, including a live podcast this December at Gannett’s NYC headquarters, for $160. Join now.
The Rebooting is kicking off a new research project with our partners at EX.CO. I’m a believer that the media business is about managing tensions and tradeoffs. What we want to understand is how video is viewed within publishing organizations, particularly between those on the “revenue” side and the “product” side. The survey only takes five minutes to complete, and all answers are anonymous. Take the survey.

A new era for publisher video

Publishers have already captured the attention of millions across social platforms, but now it’s time to bring that engagement home. Moments by Outbrain delivers immersive, vertical video experiences directly on publishers’ mobile sites. As Robert Blanck from Axel Springer, an early adopter of the solution, explains, “Moments provides publishers more control over their video content and how to monetize it.” Ultimately providing the right tool to cultivate a richer, more engaging environment that keeps their audience coming back for more. Now you can bring that engagement back to where it matters most: your site.

Unlock Moments

Life after Google

The Department of Justice is going there. Its proposed remedies in the far more consequential search portion of its antitrust moves against Google suggests “structural” remedies, ie, breaking up Google. These cases tend to drag on for many years, but it’s worth considering whether the internet has reached peak Google.

Defining search is difficult. But the best business model in history will draw different approaches. The WSJ spotlighted how, by one definition, Google’s share of the broader search market is in decline. The headline attributes this to TikTok and Perplexity, but that’s because editors are trying to “sell” stories. The reality is a lot of commerce searches start on Amazon. The larger point is that AI will fragment the search market further.

Google’s core product is a mess. Its pivot to Reddit is causing all kinds of problems. I’ve never heard as much frustration with Google as I do now. It is clearly struggling to clean up its search results, which are a mess of arbitrageurs and AI slop. Google’s efforts to crack down on “site reputation abuse” has sucked up many publishers. Getting a piece of clicks on coupons and sports betting might seem downmarket, but those incremental revenue streams are critical to many news publishers.

Even the New York Times’ Wirecutter, the gold standard of affiliate, is not immune as Google looks at affiliate plays as an invasive species in the search results.

“The die has been cast,” writes Mike Mallazzo in the very good Zero Clicks newsletter. “Google is drawing a permanent line in the sand against publisher middlemen, and especially against entities that rely on affiliate marketing for monetization.”

I’m sure Google will point to data to show that people would prefer a product comparison within the results page rather than going to a publisher site. It also just coincidentally is squarely within its financial interests. The DoJ’s ongoing ad tech antitrust case against Google raises the very real possibility that Google will split off its ad tech assets. The impact of that isn’t necessarily great for publishers. Be careful what you wish for.

More critically, if Google doesn’t make money off the traffic it sends to publishers, it will have no incentive to send that traffic. Preparing for Google Zero is a sensible approach for publishers. Even if it doesn’t happen, they’ll have stronger businesses for the effort.